Adalbert Raps Library expanded to include historical works!

This spring, celebrity chef Alexander Herrmann drew the attention of his fans to the Adalbert Raps Library. Located in the Museum Educational Centre (MUPÄZ) of the museums in Kulmbach's Mönchshof, which also includes the German Spice Museum, it provided the perfect backdrop for Herrmann's online cooking show format "Wem schmeckt denn sowas?". As part of the show, which was broadcast via live stream on four dates in April and May, the TV chef set himself the task of first re-cooking historical recipes true to the original and then transferring them to the present day. He used the works of the Adalbert Raps Library - one of the largest cookbook collections in Germany - as the basis for his recipes. Since the beginning of October, the library has been pleased to have three new cookbook rarities: "Kochbuch", "Kochbuch für Maria Schmidt aus Bubenreuth" and "Küchen Album" are the titles of the historical treasures that were donated to the Adalbert Raps Library by Alexander Herrmann's fans and are now available for viewing.

Picture credits: Tim Engelmann (ZDF) and AlexanderHerrmann - © Sebastian Metzdorf - Metzemedia

Cookbook donation by Alexander Herrmann: Historical works from the 19th and early 20th century

The Adalbert Raps Library, one of Germany's largest cookbook collections, has been enriched by three rare cookbooks since the beginning of October, thanks to celebrity chef Alexander Herrmann and his loyal fan community. As a response to his online cooking show "Wem schmeckt denn sowas?", in the context of which he first cooked historical recipes from the works of the Adalbert Raps Library true to the original and then transferred them to the present day, Herrmann received not only positive feedback but also postal mailings from his fans. Among them were three historical cookbooks, which Herrmann confidently handed over to the spice library's shelves. In addition to a printed work from 1875 entitled "Kochbuch" (Cookbook), which is a kind of basic cookbook containing recipes as well as basic techniques such as carving, preserving and information on menu sequences, these also include two handwritten works from the early 20th century. Both the "Cookbook for Maria Schmidt from Bubenreuth" and the "Kitchen Album" of Catherine Hartmann contain women's family recipes that were passed down through generations. "These cookbooks allow conclusions to be drawn about the regional ingredients used at the time and the composition of the dishes, and thus represent precious documents of contemporary history. For me, there was no question that these historical treasures belonged in the Adalbert Raps library!" says Herrmann.

Adalbert Raps Library: A culinary treasure trove!

The Spice Library, whose sponsor is Adalbert-Raps-Stiftung , is located in the Museum Educational Centre (MUPÄZ) of the museums in Kulmbach's Mönchshof, which also includes the German Spice Museum. It is a collection of literature on the subject of spices and the cultural history of food that is second to none. With more than 12,000 books and magazines, it offers a large selection of well-founded literature on spices, food, nutrition and enjoyment. It houses almost the entire German-language literature on the history of spices, dating back to the 17th century, and also provides an insight into the future of food culture. At the same time, it is considered one of the largest collections of cookery books in Germany. The Adalbert Raps Library was kicked off by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Protzner, who began collecting objects and books on the subject of spices in 1984 on behalf of Adalbert-Raps-Stiftung . The rapidly growing compilation was published in 1997 in the "Landschaftsmuseum Obermain". Since 2011, it has been on display at the museums' educational centre in Kulmbach's Mönchshof.

The three new cookbook rarities donated by Alexander Herrmann are also now available for interested parties to view in the Adalbert Raps Library in the Museum Educational Centre (MUPÄZ) of the Museums im Kulmbacher Mönchshof in Kulmbach.